Madras HC dismisses plea against AIADMK general council meet

The Madras High Court today dismissed a petition seeking to stay the general council and executive committee meeting called by chief minister Palaniswami-led faction of the AIADMK on Tuesday.

Justice C V Karthikeyan dismissed the plea filed by P Vetrivel, MLA, a supporter of sidelined AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran, and imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on him for "wasting the time of the court". The judge pointed out that being an MLA, the petitioner should have taken note of a circular issued by the High Court earlier, which stated that MPs and MLAs should first get the nod of the Chief Justice for filing petitions. Without getting the nod, Vetrivel has filed the petition, the judge said.

The Judge observed that if the petitioner was aggrieved by the call for the meeting, "he may go to the meeting venue and have lunch or ignored it by not attending and sit at home. He may not have filed the vexatious petition". When Vetrivel's counsel made a request to grant liberty to the petitioner to approach the Election Commission against the general council meet, the judge observed that no one could prevent any person from approaching an appropriate forum to vent grievances.